


Different Kind of Strength

by carolc24



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Brotherly Love, Eating Disorders, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Papyrus has an ed, Sans has chronic pain, alternate tite: doctor called me sick i said tru, anti jelly in oatmeal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-11
Updated: 2016-11-11
Packaged: 2018-08-30 08:46:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,328
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8526571
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/carolc24/pseuds/carolc24
Summary: Sometimes, Sans has “off days”, and he needs to stay home from work.  Papyrus also has "off days", but he doesn't like to admit it.  So Sans helps him out.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Yessica](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yessica/gifts).



The regular check-in phone call from Papyrus came at around two o’clock, but Papyrus wasn’t the monster on the other end.

“SANS GET OVER HERE RIGHT NOW!!!”

Sans winced and moved the phone away from his ear. “uhh, undyne? what’s going on? also, maybe bring the volume down a bit?”

Undyne seemed to recognize that he was being serious, and took a second before answering in a less earsplitting voice. “Papyrus is over here for training, and we were cooking the noodles like usual, and then he passed out! Like, he just collapsed onto the floor!! You need to get over here right now— wait, you know where my house is, right? Just ask the riverperson, they’ll give you directions— but be quick about it, I don’t know what’s going on!”

Sans winced again. “uh, sorry, i can’t come over. today’s my day off.”

“What??? Is it your day off from looking after your BROTHER???”

“look, how about you bring him over here, and i’ll look after him. this happens sometimes, it’s probably no big deal.”

“Are you JOKING? I’m taking him to a doctor!”

Another wince. Undyne sure was trying to make things difficult, wasn’t she. “that’s really not necessary. just take him here, and i’ll make sure he gets plenty of rest and all that, ok?” He hoped his tone was serious enough that she’d get the message.

Apparently, it was, because Undyne paused for a second, then answered. “Fine, I’ll take him over. If you two want to be all stupid and self-reliant or whatever your deal is, it’s no business of mine.”

A sudden dial tone told Sans that she had hung up. He put his phone down and sighed, rubbing his hands over his eyelids. This hadn’t happened in a while, and the aftermath likely wouldn’t be pleasant. Papyrus was never very good at responding to people worrying about him, or criticizing him, but especially not when it came to this.

So he’d just have to get Undyne not to ask any questions, somehow, and then give Papyrus room to figure things out for himself. It wouldn’t be good to force the issue, that would only make things worse.

Soon enough, Undyne came bursting through the door, carrying Papyrus in a fireman’s lift. He was indeed looking frail, but he appeared to be awake and struggling against Undyne’s hold. That was a good sign— short fainting spells weren’t out of the ordinary for him, and usually weren’t serious.

It probably wasn’t good for him to get dropped unceremoniously on the carpet, as Sans expected Undyne to do, but she was surprisingly careful about moving him onto the couch next to Sans. Then she straightened up and looked Sans straight in the eye, her face full of anger and determination.

“You better take care of him!!!” she said. “For real!!! It’s one thing for you to slack off and make excuses at work, but neglecting Papyrus is. Not. Allowed.” She cooled down a little and faced Papyrus. “Don’t come back to training until you’re feeling better, okay? You won’t get into the Royal Guard faster by overexerting yourself, especially when you’re sick.”

Papyrus nodded weakly. “Okay,” he said in a faint, gravelly voice. He waved goodbye as Undyne marched out of the house, slamming the door behind her and leaving the two brothers alone.

The room’s atmosphere suddenly became very awkward. Papyrus fidgeted in his seat, not looking at Sans but looking ashamed. Sans shifted his weight so he was facing Papyrus more directly. He didn’t have to admonish him for having problems, or put pressure on him, but he needed to know the facts.

“so.” Sans tried to keep his voice as casual as possible, but it must have come off a bit forced, because Papyrus didn’t react except to keep fidgeting. “how long’s it been?”

There was no need to say any more. Both of them knew what Sans was asking.

Papyrus gave a strained sigh, and answered, “Fifty-six hours.” The guilt on his face got even more pronounced, and Sans couldn’t tell if it was because the number was too big or too small. “I felt fine this morning, I didn’t expect this to happen or anything. Undyne kind of overreacted, honestly.”

“mm.” Sans was tempted to say that Undyne had underestimated the severity of the situation, but getting into an argument wouldn’t be helpful for either of them. “probably won’t get better by just sitting here, though. so there’s that.”

“I know that!” Papyrus snapped, turning to face Sans with a sudden burst of anger-fueled energy. “I heard what Undyne said, I know I can’t train with her again until I get it together, but how am I supposed to do that when she hates me? When she thinks I’m weak and stupid and can’t take care of myself? If I give in I’ll just prove her right, and it won’t even matter because this is going to happen again, and she’ll keep seeing me screw up, and I’ll never amount to anything and then I’ll just—“ He was gasping, shivering, tears threatening to leak out of his eyes, and Sans finally said fuck it and wrapped him in the best brotherly hug he could muster. Papyrus clung to him desperately, his panic ebbing away before it could get out of control, but he was still shivering.

When they broke away, Sans handed Papyrus the fluffy blanket, the one that’s good for when you need to get warm. The heavy blanket, for when you need pressure on top of you, would wait until Papyrus was feeling stronger. He accepted it and spread it across their laps, allowing the heat of their souls to be shared between them as they huddled together under it.

Sans’s voice was quieter than usual, due to being pressed up against Papyrus, but that was fine. “you know how you were the one to suggest i start taking days off after my joints got really bad?”, he said. Papyrus hummed in response, the memory clear in both of their minds. “i thought i was supposed to just ignore it until it went away, but it just kept getting worse. until i started taking days off when i needed them. and now my flare-ups aren’t as bad, and my mood’s better, and everything.”

“It’s not like that,” Papyrus said softly. “I’m not sick, I’m just… not good at dealing with things. That’s not a reason to stop working.”

“well, that’s not really what i’m saying. you don’t think i’m weak because i take days off, right?”

“Of course not!”

“so you aren’t weak for needing time off now. i mean, undyne doesn’t think less of me because of the way i work, so she wouldn’t think less of you, either.”

Papyrus was silent. Probably didn’t believe him or something, but he didn’t argue. Maybe Sans could get in one final suggestion, then.

“we have some oatmeal if you want it, but if you don’t feel up to it now, that’s okay too. you don’t need to force yourself to eat for undyne’s sake.” They had other foods besides oatmeal, rich foods that would give Papyrus more energy, but rich foods with strong tastes and textures probably weren’t a good idea right now.

He didn’t answer right away, but sat there contemplating and playing with the edge of the blanket. His hands weren’t as shaky as before, though there was still an unsteadiness to them would have that made Sans doubt his brother’s ability to cook in this state if he hadn’t seen him pull it off many times before. Even at the best of times, Papyrus preferred to eat food prepared by himself.

“…Okay. Do you want sugar in yours?”

Sans could feel a genuine smile growing on his face as Papyrus carefully stood up and made his way towards the kitchen. “how about jelly?”

The noise of disgust Papyrus made wasn’t going to dampen his relief.

**Author's Note:**

> This is based on the ED Papyrus headcanon as written by Yessica here on AO3, sharada-n on tumblr. I kept it more vague here, but in her stories it's a result of abuse from Gaster. I also love the disabled Sans headcanon so I wanted to get in on that. This probably got fluffier than I intended but honestly I wrote it over the space of like 2 weeks and I haven't really edited it, oops.


End file.
